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Oct. 27, 1931; E. L. FLOYD 1,828,999

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 27 1930 I 3 Sheets-Sheet l F I flan Oct. 27, 1931. E FLQYD 1,828,999

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 27. 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 "15 Fig 2.

gwumtoo A. fio gd WWW 0a.27,1 1931. E, L, FLOYD 1,828,999

' KNITTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 27 1930 Sheets-Sheet 5 gww/ntoz Patented Get. 27,1931

. unites STATES PATENT OFFICE! ElTf-ELIJAH L. FLOYD,,OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ,ASSIGNOR TO THE AD*LER,UNDERWEAB AND;

HOSIERY COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO KNITTING MACHINE ihis invention relates to improvements in knitting machines of the general type disclosed in the patents to F. B, VVildman, #613,346, and -McMichael' and Nildman, #508,965, wherein vertical. knitting needles are reciprocably mounted in spaced relation upon a rot'atingneedle cylinder, or needle drum, interiorly of which the knitted material is formed. As said needles are moved m in a circular path by the rotary needle cylinder or drum, they are actuated by cams to take the thread from one or more suitable thread guides or feeds for forming the fabric, said guides being arranged in spaced I5 relation circumferentially of the needle cylinder. V a

An objectof this invention is to provide a novel means for feeding or guidingthread oryarn to the needles during the knitting 2 operation, and'for controlling the feeding or guiding means. I

Another objectis to provide a knitting machine with a novel arrangement of thread guide or feed units, each unit being adapted to supply the knitting needles with different kinds or colors of thread, none of-which units will remain idle'during operation of the others.

Another object is to provide improved 3" means for simultaneously controlling the op- I eration of all of the thread guides by means of a pattern mechanism and cooperative cam ring. I These and other objects are attained by the means described herein and disclosed in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view looking down upon the machine and showing in plan p the invention and its relation to cooperative parts of the knitting machine.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view taken on line 22 of Fig. 1. v

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Machines of the type above referred to are adapted to fabricate continuous lengthsof tubular material which later are out to desired lengths and made into various articles, such als'covers for hams, bacon slabsand the *like." .The invention herein disclosed is ap- Application filed February 27, 1930. SeriaLNo. 431,785.

plicable to machines of this and kindred types, such, for example, as are employed in the manufacture of sweat shirts, bathing suits and other articles which are woven in a manner similar to that employed in the manufacture of tubular material. For purposes of decoration or identification of products, it has been'desirable to provide such articles as are mentioned above, with one or more circumferential spaced bands or stripes of contrasting weave or color. This has been accomplished heretofore by permanently supplying one or more of the thread guides or feeds with thread ofthe' color or weight of which the band or stripe-was to be formed, and providing a mechanism whereby that particular guideor feed, and also the others, could be rendered alternately operative and inoperative during the weaving of the material, thereby causing :an encircling stripe to be formed at predetermined intervals along said material. Considerable waste of time, however, and also unnecessary wearing of the parts resulted from operating the machine with some of its thread guides or feeds idle 7 at all times. A machine constructed in accordance with the present invention eliminates this .loss of time and unnecessary'movement of parts, with the result that the efficiencyand output of the machine are materially increased. I I

In the drawings, 5' represents the circular stationary base plate or frame of a knitting machine in which is rotatably supported a needle cylinder or drum 6, known also as the knitting head; The needle cylinder is pro vided on its convex surface with a plurality of vertical spaced channels or needle guides 7, each of which supports a knitting needle 8.- The needles are adapted for reciprocatory movement within the needle guides, and such movement is effected by-means of the usual cams 9 disposed in the circular path of movement of the needles, in a manner well known in the art. Each needle 8 is provided on the upper'end thereof with a hook 1'0, and a pivoted latch member'12 cooperating therewith in the usual manner for interknitting of the threads. The manner in which the fabric is formed by the action of the needles is well 0 i as they move along rods.

known, and need not be described in detail to convey a clear understanding of the present invention.

A stationary shaft or standard 13 is disposed axially of the needle cylinder and carries a thread cutting member 14 which may be in the form of a band saw bent to form a circular cutter. The toothed cutter 14 is supported upon arms 15 extending radially of the Fhaft or standard, the teeth 16 thereof being disposed upwardly. The teeth terminate in a plane slightly below the upper annular edge 17 of the needle cylinder, along which GClfi'G the knitted material is formed. The function of saw or cutter 14 will. be explained in detail after the description of the thread guiding or feeding mechanism.

As shown in Fig. 3, the base plate or frame 5 is provided with cam blocks 20 which support the cams 9 and between whi cams the ertension' 21 oi tie needles ma ride during rot.- tion of the n edle cylinder. The cams are arranged to ra i';

e and lower the needles the track. Exteriorly of ilieba'e plate or frame is provided an annular cam supporting surface or track 18 lying preferably in a horizontal plane. The track 18 s adapted to support an annular cam ring 23 the upper surface 24 of which carries a --eries of spaced upwardly extending cams 25. Each cam 25 is provided with opposed inclined. faces 26 and 27 which are adapted, upon movement of the cam ring, to lift any one of the thread guide actuating rods 28, 29

and 30.

which extends upwardly from thecam sup porting surface 18 andguides the cam ring,

are mounted a series of brackets 31 corresponding in number to'the number of cams 25. Bolts 01' screws 32 may be utilized for securing the brackets upon the wall 19. Each bracket has a radially outwardly extending.

perforated portion 33, andan upwardly extending thread guide support arm 34; The

port arm 34 carries a stud shaft 36 which extends in parallelism witht-he portion of the bracket. Upon the stud shaft are mounted forrocking movement the thread guide members 37, 38 and 39 each of which has.

a perforation 40 through which the threads 41, 42. and 43, respectively, may be fed. The thread guide members each have at one end thereof a pivot 44 whereby they may be pivotally connected to their respective actuating By employing spacer members 45 in connection with the pivot pins 44, the members 37, 38 and 39 may be disposed in close side by side parallel relationship, as shown in Fig. 2 The spacer members obviously may be dispensed with by properly bending pon the vertical cylindrical wall 19,.

the upper ends of the actuating rods toward one another, if desired. The purpose of closely grouping the thread guide members is to insure the feeding of thread therefrom to the needles at or near the peak of upward movement of the needles, as indicated by the dashed line 46. Line 46 indicates the relative heights of the needles as determined by the needle controlling cams 9.

Asstated before, the threads 41, 42'and 43- may be of different colors and it may be desired to knit the fabric product using first one color of thread and then another. For example, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the guides feeding the threads 41 and 42 are raised or inoperative, relative to the needle 1100 IS, and

thread 43 is being fed to theneedles. Vhen;

it isdesircd to feed the thread 42 instead of thread 43, the cam ring 23 ismoved to the left whereby to raise the actuating rod 29 and lower the actuatinggrod 30. The

thread guide 39 thereupon will be moved to the raised or inoperative position, andguide 38 will be lowered to operative position.-

Similarly, if it is desired to feed the thread.

41, the cam ringisrotated farther to the left, whereupon the actuating rod 28 will be moved to the raised or operative position and rods 29 and 30 will be-in the loweredFor ln The particular means used for moving the cam ring is immaterial operative position.

to the invention wherefore it. is considered suflicient to state that at pattern mechanism 47 of any suitable type, one formof which is disclosed inthe above mentioned Patent o.v

508,965, may be employed. A-sshown in-Fig. 1, a movable part 48 of the pattern mechanism may be connected to the camring by melans of a pivotally mounted connecting ro 49. 7

It is of importance that the cam 25 on thecam ring. 23 be arranged to momentarily effeet the feeding of two of the threads during the change fromlone thread feed to another, so that the continuity ofthe stitching willnot be interrupted. It should be; readily apparent that a flaw in the material: would resultif no thread were fed during the change from one color or kind of threadl to the other. To obviate thisdifiiculty, the base of the cam 25 is of alength slightly less than the distance between the endmost rods28 and 30, and the length of its top surface is slightly g'eater than the distance from one of theendmost rods to the rod 29. The rod. 29 isshaped so thereby roviding fer'ia continuous feed. of

thread. The cam 25, when positionedto feedv thethread 42 controlled by rod 29, lay entirelybetween the rods 28 and30. To feed the thread :41, the cam ring is moved fartherto the: left for raising rod 28 and lowering rod- 29. During this interval of change, there is.

again effected a double feeding of threads 4] and .42 to preserve the continuity of the.

from suitable sources of supply, not shown. The. bracket carries also a needlelatch re- I tainer 53 which serves to maintain the latch of the needle inproper position during for-' The needle cylindermation of thestitches. maybe rotatedby'any suitable means such as a gear 54 driven by a pulley55 or other source of. power, the gear beingin mesh with gear teeth 56 on the lower peripheral edge of the cylinder- 'A take-up device is indicated by 57 and consists of the usual pair ofoppositely rotating rolls moving bodily with the needle cylinder. The take-up device receives the-- knitted fabric as'it leaves the needle cylinder.

It will be understood that the pattern mecha- I nism may be operated by any suitable means such as a cam58 on the revolving needle'cylinder adapted to strike an arm 59 extending from the pattern mechanism and havingratchet or other means for producing intermittent of the pattern mechanism.

A spring 60 surrounding the needle cylinder maintains the needles in a proper position within their respective channels.

The operation of the device is as follows: as will be understood from the foregoing description, the thread feeding units consisting of the guides 37, 38 and 39and their respective actuating rods, are mounted upon the knitting machine frame about the needle cylinder in spaced relationship. Each of said units has associated therewith the proper cams 9 for moving the needles to a position such that they ma receive the thread fed by the guide means 3 38 and 39. As shown in Figs. 2

and 3, the cam 25 is in a position beneath the actuating rod 30, which serves to position the thread guide 39 in proximity with the loops of the knitting needles. As the needle cylinder revolves, the knitting process continues, making use of the thread 43 which, for purposes of explanation, may be referred to as blue thread. The pattern mechanism, be-

ing operated by the rotating needle cylinder,

will be operated upon predeterminedmovement thereof by the cam needle cylinder, to

actuate the connecting rod 49 which is pivoted to the cam ring 23. Upon movement of the cam ring 23 by thepattern' mechanism,

the cam 25 will be advanced to a position between the actuating rods 28 and'30. Said movement of the cam causes the withdrawal of thread guide39'from-the operative position, and places the white thread guide 38 in theoperative position: As stated before, the cam 25 is arranged relative to the actuating rods," so as to momentarily effect the feeding both the .blue and white threads during the interval of change of feed- Whilethe cam maintains the actuatingrod v29 in the raised position, the knitting will continue with- 1 white thread instead of blue. The amount of knitting to be performed with white thread, is determined by the pattern mechanism, and upon predetermined movement thereof the cam 25 is again advanced so as to L lift the actuating rod 28 which controls feed-. ing of, for instance, a red thread. Duringv knitting withered thread, the pattern mechanism again operates for feeding either white or :blue thread. v a a .Upon changing from one color of thread to another, it is necessary to cut ofi certain threads which extend from the knitted material to the central shaft 13. The band-like saw 14, bent into circular shape and provided with the upwardly extending teeth 16 is stationarily mounted within theneedle cylinder to perform the cutting operation. The saw is supported upon the radially extending arms 15 which are mounted uponthe stationary shaft 13.. The teeth of the cutter member orsaw lie in a plane slightly below the upper edge of the knitting needle, so that the threads will not be out immediately after. the

the present invention have greater efliciency.

and production than the type of machine heretofore used in the manufacture of knitted articles such as are mentioned herein. This is due to the arrangementof thread guides or feeds in such manner that several of them may be actuated by a single means. In the older type of machines, each thread guide had in association therewith a needleraising and lowering cam-i-which performs useless work during the interval that its correspond-, ing thread guide was inoperative In the device of this invention, however, there is always a feed of threadjoperating to supply theneedles at all points about the needle cylinder where theneedles are disposedin re ceivin'gposition. r 7

What is claimed is:

.1. In a device of the class described the combination of a frame, a needle cylinder ro-' 2 lie tatable. relative to thefranie, needlesicarried by the; cylinder, each needle having a thread receiving portion, a plurality of thread guides for the needles each. thread; guide being. movable to operative and inoperative positions relativeto the thread receiving por tions of the needles, a single" movable camfor cooperation with the threadguides for movement of the thread guides tothe' operative and. inoperative positions, said cam being arranged to move an. operatively positioned thread guide to the inoperative position after having first moved anotherthread guide to theoperative position.

2.2111 a device of the class described the combination of a frame, a needle cylinder rotatable relative to the frame, needles'carried by the needle-cylinder andhaving thread re ceiving portions thereon, and a plurality of thread feeding units forsupplying various kinds of threads to the threadreceiving portions-ofthe needles said units each comprising a central actuating rod and a pair of actuating. rods one disposed-on each side of the central. actuating: rod, said rods all being mounted? for reciprocation relative to; the frame, a thread guide cooperating with each actuating rod and movable by the rods to operative and inoperative positions relative to. the needles, and means associated with eaclrthread guide unit and cooperating with the actuating rods for reciprocation of the rods to selectively place the corresponding thread guides of each unit into operative positions.

3. Inadeviceoftheclassdescribed the combinationof a frame, a needle cylinder rotatable relative to the frame, needles carriedby the needle cylinder and having thread receiving portions thereon, and a plurality of thread feeding units for supplying" various kindsof threads to the thread receiving portions of the needles said units each comprislng a central actuatlng rod'anda pair of ac+ tuating'rods one disposed on each side of the central actuating rod, said rods all being mounted for reciprocation relative to the frame, a thread guide cooperating Witheach actuating rod and movable by the-rods to operative and inoperative positions relative to the needles, and a plurality of simultaneously movable means, one being associatedwith each thread guide unit, for effecting movement of corresponding thread guides of each unit'to an inoperative position after having first effected-movement of other corresponding thread guides to the operative position.

4. In a device of theclass described the combination of a frame, .a needle cylinder;

means forfeeding thread to the. knitting;

needles, a standard disposed substantially axially with respect to'the needle cylinderand about which standard certain portions of the knitting thread may be wound during the knitting operation, and a thread cutting member substantially encirclingthe standard and disposed between the standardand the said annularportion of the needle cylinder.

5. In a device of the class described the combination of a frame, a needle cylinder mounted for rotation relative to the frame said needle. cylinder having a portion along which knitted material is formed, knitting needles carried by the needle cylinder for performing the knitting operation, means for feeding thread to the needles, a standard serving asv a spool upon which certain portions of theknitting thread may be wound" scribed my name this 25th day ofFebruary,

ELIJAH L. FLOYD. 

